Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1936
	Director: Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night)
	Actors: Gary Cooper (Alice in Wonderland), Jean Arthur (Shane), George Bancroft
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 21.08.2013, DVD, 32" TV, Black & White
Synopsis: Longfellow Deeds (Cooper), a simple guy who never left his small town, inherits twenty million dollars from his uncle he didn't know (a vast fortune in 1936). In New York he will have to navigate between his uncle's advisors, the media, and a girl (Arthur) he is falling in love with.
Review: I learned the existence of this old classic after reviewing the 2002 remake simply entitled Mr Deeds with Adam Sandler. I thought (and read) that some elements were re-used from the original, while actually a lot is taken from it. Deeds was already writing postcards poetry in 1936, and the whole town was coming to the train station to wish him goodbye. The main changes concern the type of humor adapted to Adam Sandler's style vs. the one of the 30's, the increased role of the bulter to fit John Turturro, and the ending that was originally taking place in court. I was pleasantly surprized by how easy it is to watch this movie, in spite of its age (the second oldest reviewed on this blog to date) and the duration of 1h50, including the last thirty minutes in a tribunal. In a different style but as easy to watch as Casablanca (1942) or 12 Angry Men although this one is twenty years younger. No wonder then that the original material needed only little adaptation in 2002. The story and characters are great, the dialogs better and deeper than in the remake, and the stronger conclusion would still fit nowadays: is it being crazy than loving life and trying to help poor people, instead of sharing money with the rich who don't need it?
Rating: 7 /10